Depth finder brand consistency

[Bdnoble84]

How important do you all find it to stick with the same brand/ model of depthfinder on the bow and stern. Pros, cons
i have a reveal 5x ss currently and I like it, but im interested in getting a 7” didsplay with side imaging and the hummingbird and garmin units are both catching my eye for a sim price. 
regardless, i will prob end up with a reveal 7x ts, but im not set on that. 

[Tennessee Boy]

It’s very important to me.  If you want them to share waypoints then you need the same brand.   

[WRB]

Reveal is a Lowrance Hook model not a brand.

Don’t mix manufacturers! Net working different models of the same brand may be doable.

Tom

[Jig Man]

Mixing is not for me.  I want all of them able to network and share data.

[casts_by_fly]

If you’re not networking them to each other or another piece of equipment then the only real consideration is user interface. Some people prefer mapping on one, side imaging on another, etc. my dad runs lowrance on his boat, I have humminbird on my kayak. I prefer the HB imaging and I’ve played with both of them to optimize as best possible for each. I like his touch screen, but I like the customization of my helix. 

[12poundbass]

Like everyone else has said, if you want them to share waypoints you’ll need them to be the same.

 

The only way I’d add a different brand (for me anyways) would be to add 360 imaging up front, so I’d have two up front. I’m not doing that anytime soon though. 

[Bankc]

The Reveal line of Lowrance fish finders will not share information with any other fish finder, regardless of brand.  They have no networking capabilities.  So while it's usually important for that reason, I think in your case, you can go with whatever you like.  In the future, when you go to step up from the Reveal unit, it may become an issue you'll want to consider.  You'll probably want to match that fish finder's brand with whatever you choose now so they can talk to one another.  But for this moment, it's not gonna make any difference, other than having to learn a different menu system.  

 

Well, I guess you could save waypoints to the SD card and then copy that SD card to another SD card on a computer and then put that copy of the SD card into the new fish finder if they were the same brand, so you'd have your waypoints on both fish finders.  But that's a lot of hassle and doesn't offer much reward for all of that.  

[Rockytop]

On my old Stratos I had a Humminbird 998 and a Lowrance HDS 7 at the Console and at the bow I had a Lowrance HDS 7 and a Lowrance Hook 7. I used the Humminbird for side scan and HDS 7 at the bow for mapping and sonar. On my new boat I have only Lowrance units and I have them connected with a NMEA 2000 cable and I like the way I've got it set up a lot better. 

[Big Hands]

The only issue I have with having two different brand units (Garmin and Humminbird) on my boat is that I have to (try) to remember how the two different interfaces work. I don't have them work together in any way. The lakes I normally fish are only 2,200 acres and 180 acres when plugged full. There are very few places at any given time that have much of any off-shore structure so waypoints are not of much use to me. The Humminbird (on the transom) has a detailed map downloaded in case a particular hump is getting shallow and I am running the outboard.

 

Sometimes I don't even turn either of them on. I just fish where I'm going to fish and I already know what's going on so there's no sense in announcing "here's Johnny!"

 

If my particular situation were different, I could see why one might want them to work together.